Episcopal Leaders Refrain from Disciplining Breakaway Clergy

From Christian Post-

In an announcement on Monday, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh said it will not take disciplinary action against the approximately 100 priests and deacons who left to join a conservative Anglican group.

"We’re doing this for pastoral reasons," said the Rev. Dr. James Simons, president of the diocesan Standing Committee, in a statement. "We do not want to see our priestly brothers and sisters deposed." Rather than defrock the priests, the diocese has chosen to simply release them from their ministerial ties to The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism.

By doing so, the breakaway clergy are able to "move their holy orders" to any entity they want to, including the Anglican Church in North America – a conservative province that was established in June for disaffected Anglicans. "We're trying to be as pastoral as possible," Simons said, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

"We don't want to deprive anybody of their holy orders. We don't think that's necessary, but we had to find some way to get them off the list of clergy in the Episcopal Church." The move is a departure from actions taken by other dioceses in The Episcopal Church. The Diocese of San Joaquin deposed 61 clergy earlier this year from ordained ministry after they voted to split from the national church. They were charged with abandoning the church's communion.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20091006/episcopal-leaders-refrain-from-disciplining-breakaway-clergy/index.html